Tough Love

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-one

Shoot, he's really going to do it. He's going to ask Dani to come in here. She'll be mortified and she'll never come back again. I try to keep my cool as I say, “If you do that, Cap, she'll leave and never come back. She'll run out of here and you won't ever see her again.”

His hand hovers over the button and then he sets it on his desk.

“Sir, this is her private life. Do you really think it's right to delve into it? I mean, you wouldn't do that to me, would you?”

“Depends. Look at Cain. If we had looked into his private life, this wouldn't of happened, would it? How do I know she's not going to go a similar kind of way?”

“I can vouch for her. She's been dealing with this longer than you realize and she knows how to carry on regardless.”

“Unfortunately that's not good enough, Eli.”

“If you thought there was something wrong, why did you hire her? Why didn't it show up in her background check?”

“After Paul raised his concerns, I did some further digging into her background and it seems a little too normal to me. We were looking for terrorist connections, threats, stuff like that, not personal history. Maybe we need to change the regulations and checks. Eli, if you don't tell me I will risk losing Dani to ask her. I can't compromise the safety of the New York citizens.”

I sigh, knowing the game is over. At the end of the day he is my commanding officer and I have to give in to him with most things. I know deep down that he is right. Failing to tell him is compromising the safety of people. I just don't like to admit it. I don't think Dani will do anything, but then again, if she gets so scared she can't think straight who knows what could happen. If she's leading us through an exit route or something and she freaks out, that could be our lives on the line.

I sigh again and rub my hands over my face before saying, “You really have to promise you won't tell a soul. You can't let Dani know I told you. I've been working on gaining her trust and this will completely ruin it.”

I take a deep breath, trying to figure out what to say and when I open my mouth these words just fly out, “I'm sorry, I can't do this. It's not my story to tell. I can't betray her like that. Sorry Cap, it's just not right.”

The Cap stares at me and then nods. “Send Dani in on your way out.”

I'm shocked. He's actually going to ask her. I have to try to warn her. As I get to Dani's desk, I whisper in Spanish, “The Cap wants you. Dani? He's going to ask you what's going on. I didn't want you to walk in there without a warning...”

I see her hands start to shake and she drops her papers. I feel awful, but it would be unfair of me to not give her some kind of a heads up. I let her gather the papers by herself, knowing she probably needs to gather her thoughts.

“I'll wait here for you and then we'll go home.”

She nods absentmindedly and then she disappears into the Cap's office.

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(END of Eli's POV)

I try to calm my nerves as I knock on the Captain's door. He tells me to come in, so I gingerly enter the room.

“Take a seat, Dani.”

I perch on the edge of the seat opposite the Captain, ready to run if needed.

He sighs and says, “If I know Eli like I think I do, he's already told you why I asked you to come in here.”